Kwick Mask (a filter plug-in for Adobe Photoshop™ 3.0)
Free 68k version 1.0.0. Copyright 1996 Hugh Kawahara. All rights reserved.
Introduction
This plug-in creates selections from RGB images. It is basically a souped up version of the
"Color Range" command . It lets you specify the tolerances either explicitly or implicitly
in either HSB or RGB mode. It also allows you to use up to 31 selections.
Warning: This plug-in may have some incompatibilities with some control panels
or foreign language systems. Please read § 6.7 for the detail.
Contents
1. Distribution Policy and Legal Stuff
2. System Requirement
3. Installation
4. What It Does
5. Usage
6. Misc. Notes
7. How to Reach the Author
8. Acknowledgment
§ 1. Distribution Policy and Legal Stuff
This particular version (the version is specified at the top of this document) is a freeware.
Other versions may not be.
You may distribute this software freely as far as no parts of the contents of the folder
"Kwick_Mask", which includes this memo "Kwick_Mask.doc" and the plug-in "Kwick_Mask.68k",
are deleted or modified.
The author retains the copyright.
This software is provided "as is".
The author shall not be liable for any damages or losses caused by this software in any way.
§ 2. System Requirement
Hardware:
Macintosh computer with MC68020 processor or greater, including Power PC.
Math co-processor (FPU) is NOT required.
Software:
System 7.0 or greater.
Adobe Photoshop™ 3.0.0 or greater.
Memory:
Extra (height_of_selection *width_of_selection ) bytes from the host.
If there is no selection present, the height and width of the selection are
the height and width of the image, respectively.
Since Photoshop 3.0 requires MC68020 and System 7.0, any Macintosh computers running Photoshop 3.0.0 or greater should be sufficient to run this plug-in.
It will not work with prior versions of Photoshop.
§ 3. Installation
Simply move, copy, or drag the entire "Kwick_Mask" folder containing the plug-in and
this memo into the "Plug-ins" folder in your "Adobe Photoshop™" folder.
Quit Photoshop if it is running. Then (re)start Photoshop.
It will appear under the menu "Filter->colleen".
§ 4. What It Does
4.1 Image Mode
RGB images only at this moment.
4.2 What It Really Does
It works similar to "Color Range" command in Photoshop.
This plug-in lets you specify the tolerance either explicitly or implicitly.
It use either HSB color mode or RGB color mode.
(Note: "Color Range" command seems to use Lab color mode.)
It also allows you to use multiple selections (i.e. sets of tolerance) up to 31.
You can preview the mask in various modes such as
quick mask, matte, or gray scale with choice of colors.
It does NOT change the image, but it DOES change or create the selection.
§ 5. Usage
5.1 Invocation
Just choose "Kwick Mask…" from the menu "Filter->colleen".
5.2 Preview
It creates a full size preview window over the original image window.
It is zoomable, scrollable, and resizable as it appears.
Use the "Hand" and "Glass" tools in the dialog box to scroll or zoom it.
Press the option key to zoom-out and press the command key to zoom-in
while using the hand or glass tool.
It does not zoom-in larger than 1:1 ratio and does not zoom-out smaller than the window.
Double click these tools to fit the preview to the window or zoom-in to 1:1 ratio.
Double clicks do not resize the window.
Drag the preview window to see the original image window behind,
although the plug-in does not let Photoshop refresh it while busy processing in background.
5.2 Adjusting the Tolerance
You can set the minimum and maximum tolerances of the HSB or RGB values
using the sliders explicitly or using the eye dropper tools.
The eye dropper tools work similar to the ones in "Color Range" command.
Clicking with the "Eye dropper" tool on the preview lets you set the minimum and maximum
values to the value of the pixel clicked. At this moment, the tolerance range is zero, so you
would only see very small areas selected.
To expand the tolerance range, use the "Eye dropper plus" tool.
To reduce it, use the "Eye dropper minus" tool.
You can click or drag with these tools on the region you want to include or exclude from the
tolerance range. If you are using a slow machine or the image is large, the response may be
slow. Look at the "info:" in the dialog box and make sure it is tracking.
Pressing the option key changes it to the "Eye dropper" tool at any time.
Pressing the shift or command key changes it to the "Eye dropper plus" or "Eye dropper
minus" tool, respectively. Use the alpha lock key to change the cursor to a cross-hair pick-up.
5.3 Creating Multiple Selections
You can use up to 31 selections (i.e. sets of tolerance).
Click the "New" button to create a new selection.
The initial minimum and maximum values are 255 and 0, respectively.
Therefore, it does not select any area at any fuzziness settings.
5.4 Deleting a Selection
Click the "Delete" button to delete the current selection.
5.5 Setting the Current Selection
Use the pop-up menu below the title "Selection #:".
This is the selection you are adjusting at the moment.
The color in the square in the menu is the "averaged" color selected.
5.6 Selecting the Color Mode
Click the "HSB" or "RGB" radio button to select the mode.
Usually the HSB mode works better.
The mode is specific to the current selection.
5.7 Setting the Fuzziness
Use the "Fuzziness:" slider to set the "softness" of the edge.
The minimum value is 1 and it makes sharp edges (i.e. the mask value is 0 or 255).
This slider is in logarithmic scale.
The fuzziness is common to all selections.
5.8 Choosing the Preview Mode
Use the pop-up menu below the title "Preview Mode:".
You can choose one from Quick Mask (opacity 50%) with various colors,
White or Black Matte, or Grayscale mode.
§ 6. Misc. Notes
6.1 Tolerance Setting in HSB Color Mode
In the HSB mode, the hue tolerance is specified by "from" and "to" rather than "min" and"max".
This is because the hue is continuous from 359° to 0°.
For example, a red color with a small tolerance would be like "from 355° to 5°".
6.2 About "info:" Box
The "info:" box displays the HSB and RGB values of the pixel where the cursor is.
The "Mask:" field shows the mask value where value 0 is completely masked and
value 255 is completely un-masked.
The "#:" field show the selection number which is responsible for the mask value.
If it is 0, it means the pixel is not selected by any selections
or already completely masked by Photoshop (read next paragraph).
6.3 Pre-Selection
You can "pre-select" the area using any of the Photoshop tools such as Marquees, Magic Wand,
etc., and it is encouraged because it reduces the memory requirement and processing time.
It can be a feathered/soft-edged selection.
The resulting mask is the multiplied by this "pre-selection" .
6.4 Background Processing
The plug-in DOES processing in background.
However, to complete it, it has to be the foreground process.
The plug-in notifys you at the end of the processing, if it is in background.
6.5 This Plug-in Filters Twice!
This plug-in displays the progress box more than once.
This is normal.
6.6 This Plug-in Does Not Work on Grayscale Images.
Although it is enabled on the menu, it just doesn't.
6.7 Incompatibility with Control Panels or Foreign Language Systems
The plug-in issues keyboard events, namely "command-F" and "q".
If the system or control panels intercept them, the plug-in can not complete the operation.
Turn off anything to do with "Command-F" or "q".
6.8 and...
The plug-in may mis-behave occasionally if it is de-activated or canceled at the very
beginning or end of the operation (normally when the "watch" cursor is showing, It should be
safe if it is showing the "Yingyang"). So please avoid doing these at those critical time.
Normally, the plug-in returns the result as a selection. But if it did not create a selection,
switch to the Quick Mask mode if not already in, then re-invoke the plug-in by either selecting
the first item in the Filter menu or just typing "Cmd-F". The plug-in should create a valid
selection if it still has the valid data.
In any case, the plug-in should NOT alter the image.
§ 7. How to Reach the Author
Please send bug-reports/comments/whatever to <kawahara@leland.stanford.edu>.
Visit <http://www.stanford.edu/~kawahara> for updates.
§ 8. Acknowledgment
This software was developed using
Metrowerks CodeWarrior Academic 7 and
Adobe Photoshop 3.0.4 SDK.
Adobe Photoshop is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc..
Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc..
Metrowerks CodeWarrior is a trademark of Metrowerks, Inc..
